The background

I was looking for an apt introduction for sharing my experience during the one week getaway in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand but was just not getting the initiaitive. Just then I chanced upon seeing this month’s IEEE Spectrum and Outlook Traveller in my office desk. Spectrum had a cover story - Dream Jobs ’09. It was about people who were paid to have – FUN. Excellent, I thought. Travel could just be the kind of job that I may want to have and of course get paid. Just as my enthusiasm was dying down as I got back to the office chores, I ran through the pages of Outlook Traveller to see the main stories. A regular column on “contributors this month” caught my attention again. This section always makes me jealous of the people who get to travel, splurge on the best spas in the world, taste various varieties of wine on invitation and still get handsomely paid for that. When this day dream was again shattered by a call by a friend to join for the lunch, I made up my mind to write on my travel experience even though none would care what I would be writing about.

My purpose of a week long getaway to some place was to be on my own and do some things that I had longed to do like rafting in Ganges or Brahmaputra, jeep safari in a national park, goto a desert, bungee jumping, paragliding, horse riding etc. Finding out where I can do some of these things most economically and efficiently was a big challenge. After much deliberation I decided on a Rajasthan/Uttarakhand trip which would cover a part of my wish list - horse riding, going a desert, rafting, jeep safari. The Zip flying organized by Flying Fox in Neemrana Fort, Alwar came very close to be what a paragliding may offer. So I packed a busy schedule covering/doing all these places in 6 days. Now when I write about it I feel like participating in a season of Amazing Race. I was sure that being alone and a jam packed schedule, the travel is sure going to be adventurous by itself. Destination does matter to give framework to the travel but the heart of the matter and real fun would be the journey itself, people you meet, ideas you share and more importantly how you trust strangers merely on the basis of an email, phone call or a casual chat. In my trip I had it all. See rest of the posts in this blog for details.

For all the photographs taken during the trip, visit
Day 1 - Udaipur
Day 2,3 - Jaisalmer
Day 4,5,6 - Neemrana Fort, Rishikesh, Corbett national Park

Udaipur - the city of lakes

The journey effectively would start and stop at Delhi and last for 6 days. I took train journey to and from Bangalore to Delhi, mainly because of the recession blues. The destinations were chosen such that except for a night stay in desert sand in Jaisalmer, all nights would be used for hopping places. The first one was Udaipur – the city of lakes. A comfortable train journey from Delhi got me there early morning. I expected the place to be crowded and was eagerly looking for options to see the outskirts of the city.
Just then I got to know about a horse ride organized by an Indo-Danish couple to the city outskirts. I was joined by two couples from the Europe. It was surprising to know that one couple was traveling across India for weeks now as they find India a cheaper option to survive compared to being in Europe – they had recently lost jobs to recession. So indirectly the recession helping the Indian tourism industry! The horse ride took us to the rural ensembles of the city. It was a slow affair but refreshing. We also were taken to an animal aid centre functioning there. It was called Animal Aid Unlimited and treated and took good care of the stray animals that needed attention. I was surprised to see that the center was now managed by a Cnandian national who once happened to visit the aid center on a similar safari and seeing the condition of animals there, decided to stay back to volunteer to run it. She is in the center foor 2 years now. It was a touching tale of dedication to a cause that I stand for. The horse safari ended by noon time and we headed to the city.
For my afternoon signt seeing, I decided to stick around Lake Pichola as it has most of the prominent tourist attractions around it. My first foray was into the City Palace near Lake Pichola. It had 11 palaces in the complex and represented the pride of the ancient kingdom of Mewar. It is a must visit if one has an interest in Indian history. Another place where I visited and recommend for people who would like to splurge is the Jagmandir palace – an island in the lake.

The ambience is good enough to keep you cemented onto the place for a long time. One can also catch a good glimpse of The Oberoi Udai Vilas – the best hotel in the world from here. The sunset view from Lake Pichola was also a treat for the eyes. But I was surpised to see not many people hanging around there at that time. Perhaps they were busy with something better.
Later in the day a visit to Jagdish mandir was also pleasing as it was Maha Shivarathri day and some big celebrations were ongoing. I knew that a travel to Rajasthan would be incomplete without checking out their cuisine which I felt was best for vegetarians. Dal Bati Churma from Santhosh Dal Bati Churma Bhojanalaya was a treat and I gulped in a lot of it knowing I wont be having it again in the near future. Ker Sanghi, a dish made out of a desert vegetation is also a delight for the gluttonous souls

Jaisalmer

A night bus journey would take me to Jaisalmer for my next stop. The bus journey has to be broken at Jodhpur. I was accompanied by some 10 foreign tourists who were also going to Jaisalmer. Sadly we had an incident where we were treated harshly by the bus conductor. I felt we were treated badly as we were forced to sit in the back seats when we held the tickets for the front seats and he had dubious intention of stacking 2 people in a sleeper birth where only one could fit in. The bus conductor had his way eventually but we protested the sleeper birth clause and won that part. Its sad that people like him don’t realize the mutual benefits of nurturing tourists. At the bus stand, the scene was all too different with police standing guard for tourists from the touts who were rampant in that area. After getting freshened up at a guest house for a meager Rs25, I left my luggage there and left for a visit to City museum.

Jaisalmer is a wonderful town with the heart of the city being the Jaisalmer fort. Before the desert safari I wandered around the streets and a few Jain temples.

The fort area is suffocating with that rampant influx of tourists mostly from foreign countries. You may feel that the fort is falling apart in places.

The desert safari which started at 2pm was a relieving break from the city crowd. I was joined by a British couple for the safari. The initial jeep safari took us to some villages far away from the city untouched by modern civilization. Our guide took us to his village. It looks so strange how these people manage to meet their ends meet with so less infrastructure, medical care or sanitation. One interesting thing that I found with the kids over there was their ardent interest to get photographed.

They get shot so often that I haven’t seen such a photogenic group of children in my life. The next “adventure” was the camel safari in the desert sand dunes. It was by far the best experience of the day. As the camel nudges through the loose desert sand, you would feel like sailing – no wonder a camel is called the ship of the desert.

After a wonderful sunset, we were treated to a campfire, a sumptuous dinner and some desert songs by our guide and the caretakers of the camel. The sky was clear and I found my way to the highest dune in the visibility and spread my blanket over it for spending the night. Night went on well and as sun dropped its first rays the next morning; I got ready with my cam. After capturing a few shots of the rising sun, we were given the breakfast followed by a camel safari till where the road was. Our guide drove us back to the city. I had still some time to catch my evening train. I treated myself to a sumptuous Rajasthani Thali at Chandan Shri restaurant and made my way to another historic place – Patwon ki haveli.

Patwon was a part of cultural group in the Rajasthan. It was again reminiscent of the cultural and historic importance asserted to the kingdoms in Rajasthan.

A visit to Gadisagar lake on route to the railway station was also cherishing but I didn’t foray into the lake for a boating as it had become too hot then. The night went peaceful in the train. I was taking the exit from Rajasthan but for a stop at Neemrana fort in Alwar district on Jaipur Delhi highway. The second half of the journey wasn’t planned at all and hence had a lot in store for me to remember.

Neemrana Fort palace - Flying Fox

Upon reaching Jaipur the next day morning I was looking for buses that can take me to Neemrana Fort at almost the midway between Jaipur and Delhi. The Jaipur Delhi highway is a very busy route and one can get buses very frequently. The only problem is there arent any public transport available to take you from the highway to the fort which is some 2 km away. Neemrana Fort, an ancient fort converted to a luxury hotel now was the destination of the Flying Fox who organize Zip tours on steel cables – the hottest adventure sport catching up in the world.

The adventure is in sliding through a steel cable tied between two far off points in the hill adjacent to the Fort. The net distance you get to travel in five stages is close to 1.2 km, the longest one being close to 400m. The experience was fun with a great view of the Aravalli ranges and other terrestrial features as you slide through the wire.

By noon time I was free and I spend time till late afternoon trekking the hill which looked so intimidating from the top. The bonus experience was feather in the cap for the Neemrana trip. The Flying fox team from UK was so professional in their approach and they made the whole experience worthwhile. They were looking for expanding this to other parts of India as well. Hope to see them come up with something more interesting soon.

Rishikesh

I got the earliest bus to Delhi. I wasn’t sure how long the journey to Rishikesh, my next halt, from there was. It was intentional to leave this half of the journey to uncertainty. The night bus was very comfortable but for a minor squabble between the bus driver and a commuter. I enjoyed the battle of words in Garhwali - the language followed in Uttarakhad. The bus made me reach Rishikesh at 5am, which I thought gave me enough bandwidth to explore the place. To my surprise, I didn’t find a single soul in the Rishikesh bus stand except for some autowallahs ready to pounce like a fox on the innocent hen which happened to wander too far from its mother. After some volleys, an autowallah offered to take me to Ram Jhula which I thought would have some options of accommodation. He showed me the place, no sign of humanity in the vicinity. A tourist place devoid of people even at an acceptable time of day was surprising. He took me to place near Lakshman Jhula where he knew a guy offering cheap accommodation. I thought I got a decent bargain, in fact I didn’t bother to haggle too much as I needed a hot water shower as quickly as possible to fight the cold outside. After a short nap, I proceeded to take a stroll in the streets closeby.

The Ganges flew with all its might across the city. Its banks were connected by two bridges separated by about 2km and aptly called Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula.

The city is famous for pilgrimage, yoga and meditation which draw a huge number of foreign tourists. But these tourists wore simple and got Indianized adorning kavi and light color Kameez and dhotis. I had a strange incident there. As I walked along the Ganges, a seemingly looking beggar asked for alms. An outright reject from me didn’t please him much. I increased my pace as I got a little scared by his looks. He kept a few paces behind me and to my dismay, was chanting “Safed Baniyan Mar jaye” (Person wearing white T-shirt shall die!!). What the hell I thought he was referring to and just kept my pace. Soon I realized I was wearing a white T-shirt! Was he referring to me? His chants made me more and more restless and it was humiliating too. I just wanted to run away from his vicinity.

One of the main purposes of my visit to Rishikesh was to do White Water Rafting. The problem with traveling alone began haunting me. It is a sport that can’t be done alone. You need people to fill up the raft for weight balancing. A travel agent promised me a ride and I was complacent with his commitment. As the time drew close, he backed off saying he didn’t get enough people to join me. My attempts with other travel agents also turned futile as all their contingents have left for the rides. I was in no man’s land. Another person from the same travel agency felt bad for me and somehow managed to arrange a ride for me with a group that had already started their ride in the morning and having lunch at a camp.

The rafting experience is a highly rated activity and advised. Swimming in the ice cold Ganges and a 24 ft cliff jumping were the highlights. My compatriots for the ride were again a few foreign tourists from the US, one of whom had left her teaching job for a 5 month travel break. I somehow am jealous at the culture followed by people in the west that allows them enough bandwidth to save money and travel and have a blast. In India, I can’t imagine a teacher leaving her job for a travel break. A job is considered so important that leaving it other than for a higher paying job is considered a taboo – it just doesn’t happen. I also met a fellow Bangalorean who was on a family accompanied trip and had an intention in the back of his mind to do a backpacking trip like mine. After the rafting expedition I joined him on his way to Haridwar.

As we reached Haridwar it was time for the evening Ganga Arti at Har Ki Paudi. It was a great sight and the pujas being conducted at that time was also a treat for the eyes. But one thing that turned me down was the pujaris who would force you into some pujas and chants and demand money for the favor. It is so unlike the temples in South India where the sacred profession of a pujari is never allowed to go down to such levels. I made my way to the bus stand. After a decent dinner, I boarded one of the few buses that go directly to Ramnagar. It was the town in which the national park named after the legendary Jim Corbett was situated. My intention was to do a jeep safari in the park. Attempts to get one pre-booked failed as I couldn’t be put along with other groups. I just expected to find some other tourists to join me there for the safari. Quite unexpectedly I reached Ramnagar at the wee hour of 2 am. I was told the bus would reach early, but a few delays on the way, I thought would delay a bit. On the way, two armed policemen boarded the bus at a check post and traveled with us for some time. I wondered it could be as a security measure in the insurgent hit Uttarkhand region. I didn’t get much sleep in the bus as the route was excellent going through hilly areas and I enjoyed it a lot.

Corbett National park

At 2am I expected the town to be as dark as a no moon night, but to my surprise almost all the shops that lined the outside of the bus stand were open and were teeming with activity. As I enquired, I found that most of the town dwellers worked outside and as far as Delhi which was about 230km from there. So the town would be active 24hours a day to support the whole lot of town dwellers traveling in and out. I felt that the time spent from 2 to 6am in the morning, when the park would open, was the longest in the journey. Having got nothing to do but guard my bags and without a jacket to protect my body from the extreme cold outside, it was one of those testing moments. Only solace was the teeming crowd outside on the road. At around 6am, some activity started forming around the park office. Then I came to know some facts about the park from the whole lot of Jeep safari drivers who had come there to take their clients for a ride. The park was opened only at 3 places for the visitors named Dhikola, Bijrani and Jhirna.

Dhikola was the most preferred of them all, forming the core of the jungle and needed a night stay at the park. My tight schedule ruled this option out for me. The next option was Bijrani which was the next preferred for its proximity to the place where passes are issued. That too was fully taken up by advance booking. I was left with the last option, Jhirna. Luckily I got 2 more “nomads” to travel with me to share the safari expenses. We set off to the park at around 7am. I was still shivering in the morning chill and was waiting for the first sun rays to warm me up a bit.

We entered the park at around 7:30am. The park was excellent but the safari option is not amongst the best. In fact jeep safari is by itself eyewash and a wild encounter is as chancy as your luck that day. However we got to see a fresh tiger paw mark - we may have just missed a sighting - who knows

But apart from that fact I enjoyed the moments spent inside the park very much. We saw some spotted dears, sambhars, peacocks, wild elephants etc on the safari. It culminated at around 10am and we reached the bus stand back by around 1015am. I had a light breakfast to get me ready for the grueling bus ride back to Delhi.
I boarded an Uttarkhand State transport (small version) bus. I was told it would reach by around 6pm and that would be good for me to make my way to the railway station at 8:50pm for my journey back to Bangalore. Due to compounded reasons, when it was 6:30pm, I was still some 30-odd kms from Delhi and traffic wasn’t moving an inch. I decided enough is enough and started running across the traffic just to find some option ahead. Luckily two share autos helped me cover some 20 odd kms but took a toll on time and it was 8:20pm and I was still 12kms off the railway station. A local city dweller who took sympathy at my peril and coincidently wanting to travel to the railway station, joined me and helped me get an auto to the railway station. Paying him what he wanted, I asked the auto driver to be as fast as possible and make me reach in time. His driving skill came so useful and I reached the station at exactly 8.50pm in time for the train. Later I discovered that the train was 30mins late. It could be a Murphy law corollary– when one thing gets better, other things won’t be their worst. A huge sigh of relief and the food in the train brought some life back to me stressed soul wandering no less like a nomad.

Synopsis

This trip would go down in my life as one of the most exciting and enthralling experience. I would like to see this trip as a whole and not pinpoint to an incident or destination and draw its merits versus another. I would still like to do such fast paced travels and that too alone. But sometimes a feeling creeps in that it would be great if you had someone to share the experience with you in first hand. Some experiences, however good or bad they may be, cannot be shared with another person and then you feel the need for a fellow companion to appreciate it in full earnest.

I found the following information about this travel interesting -
Total distance covered ~ 7500kms of which 6100 kms were by train and the rest by bus!
The only night I did get to sleep properly was in the desert sand dune! All other nights I was in train or bus.